A few days ago, according to Variety, A&E issued a statement saying, “Out of respect for the families of George Floyd and others who have lost their lives, in consultation with the departments we follow, and in consideration for the safety of all involved, we have made the decision not to broadcast ‘Live PD’ this weekend.”
Meanwhile, according to Variety, Paramount Network decided to delay the launch of Season 33 of “COPS,” which was scheduled to for last Monday. Then, on Tuesday, Paramount announced: “‘Cops’ is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return.”
COPS premiered on March 11, 1989, and was one of the longest-running television shows in the United States and the longest-running show on Fox, which also boats The Simpsons, which debuted on December 17, 1989. In 2013, COPS moved to Spike TV, now known as Paramount Network.
But not to worry, A&E is covering the unexpected gap in its schedule with “Race and Resolution,” in partnership with the NAACP: a special featuring “influential social justice voices discussing how systemic racism, implicit bias and economic inequality are afflicting our nation.”
So no more Bad boys, bad boys…
The show experienced its roughest moment on August 26, 2014, at about 9:20 PM, when its crew was shooting in Omaha, Nebraska, with the Omaha Police Department. A police officer pulled up to a Wendy’s during an armed robbery and called for backup. One of the responding officers was being accompanied in his patrol car by the COPS crew, including audio technician Bryce Dion, 38, a veteran of the show. The crew began recording the robbery inside Wendy’s when police shot the robber multiple times and also hit Dion, who died shortly thereafter.
Corporate America probably knows what it’s doing when it opts to keep their show which, basically, sings the praises of police forces everywhere as they confront a weekly variety of demented criminals so we won’t have to. So I, for one, tend to agree that keeping COPS in the can for a while is a sensible move. But killing the show would be tantamount to killing the original Star Trek, from which, frankly, we haven’t yet recovered.